


Succession

by tullyblue12



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-26
Updated: 2020-08-10
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:48:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 5,347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25521616
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tullyblue12/pseuds/tullyblue12
Summary: A sequence of one-shots written as an extended epilogue to Hopeless. Created for Zutara Week
Relationships: Katara/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 65
Kudos: 281
Collections: Zutara Week 2020





	1. Reunion

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, everyone! I've heard your requests for stories within the Hopeless universe, and I am happy to write seven little stories for Zutara Week. Kicking off this week is the prompt reunion. I hope you enjoy!

His people were angry and frightened. Even as celebrations continued, the undercurrent of uncertainty loomed over the Fire Nation. 

Overnight, everything had changed. A century’s long war had ended. Overnight, a new ruler ascended the throne. Zuko had been crowned while the sun sat at its highest point in the sky. Not only did the Fire Nation have a new Lord, but he had hastily married his Fire Lady and legitimized their little prince. His nation woke to a new dynasty. 

That was enough to enrage his cabinet. Even better, Katara and Rei were gone the next day, on a course to Katara’s homeland without a date of return. And although Zuko was happy they would be away during the most turbulent days of government his nation had faced in a century, he missed them terribly. 

Every morning over breakfast, he rifled through his morning report--a pile of documents which collected each night. He searched for a new letter from Katara. Those came every week or so. There was no new one this morning. 

Instead he found grim news in a document atop the pile. It must have shown on his face.

“What is it, Fire Lord Zuko?” his uncle asked, reaching for a piece of fruit from their breakfast table.

“That sage that married Katara and I was killed last night.” 

“What?”

“Yes, the sage.” 

“One of the most holy positions,” his uncle lamented. Doing harm to a sage was supposed to incur the wrath of the spirits; it was one of the greatest crimes. 

“They hate me,” Zuko said.

“Stop it.” 

“They do.”

“You are a great change. And you have made bold steps. Katara as the Fire Lady is a great change as well. You cannot expect a seamless transition, though one is ideal.”

Deep down they knew that. It was why they had married in secret, against the wishes of his ministers. 

“I want the killer punished.”

“I’m sure the army wants that as well.”

“I’m sure the killer is part of the army.”

“Nephew,” his uncle cautioned somberly, “you cannot fall into paranoia. Dissent of your rule is a radical opinion, not the popular one.” 

“It’s the dangerous one,” Zuko countered. “If they’ll kill a sage, they’ll do anything. They’ll harm Katara. They’ll harm Rei.”

“Katara and Rei will be protected,” his uncle assured him. 

His uncle’s words fell flat. He wasn’t soothed at all. In his next letter to Katara, he suggested that she and Rei finish out the year in the South Pole. That would mean another two seasons without them, but he thought that would be enough time to calm the atmosphere here. He could learn who was loyal to him, who was willing to serve Katara, who was willing to accept Rei. 

_ Rei _ \--his little boy was surely walking by now. 

Zuko regretted the letter as soon as he sent it, when the reality of the separation truly sank in. He’d had one night as Katara’s husband before she left. And he’d been separated from his infant son too often for his liking. 

He searched every morning for Katara’s reply. It never came. 

* * *

“I’ve been hearing interesting accounts,” his uncle said offhandedly over breakfast one morning.

“Oh?”

“Yes, of a masked vigilante terrorizing the streets.”

Zuko quirked his eyebrow but did not look up from his morning report. “Hmmm.”

“Did I or did I not advise you to go forth  _ cautiously _ ?” 

“Uncle, surely you don’t think I had something to do with this.”

His uncle crossed his arms. “Well, did the vigilante find the sage’s assassin?”

“He did.”

“Good.”

“He also found plans to reinstall Ozai and the true allegiances of four of his ministers.”

His uncle nodded thoughtfully, taking the information in. “It would seem the vigilante has earned himself a proper night’s rest.” 

_ Now is not the time to rest _ , Zuko thought to himself. He had so much work to do. 

* * *

The creaking of his door a week later spurred him from his sleep. He threw himself out of bed and reached for one of the swords hanging above his headrest, though he would default to bending if he needed to. 

“Hush, it’s only me,” spoke his intruder with a small laugh. 

“Katara?”

She kicked her shoes off underneath his desk. “Hi.” 

He rushed to her, taking her in his arms and smiling into her hair. Then he suddenly pulled away. “I thought you were staying for the rest of the year.”

“Yeah, that’s what your letter said. Figured that meant I needed to come back immediately. Then your uncle wrote to me and said that it would be beneficial--his words-- for me to return. Rei and I boarded a ship the next day.” 

“My uncle wrote to you?”

“Yes. Please don’t be mad at him. I wasn’t going to wait the rest of the year anyways.” 

He kissed her. “Where’s Rei?”

“Asleep in the nursery.”

“Can we bring him in here?” 

Katara’s eyes widened. “Of course we can. Is everything alright?” 

“I just want to make sure he’s okay.”

“Zuko, has something happened?” 

“I’ll tell you everything as soon as you get settled. Tomorrow I want you to sit in on my meetings with me.”

“You do?”

“Of course I do. You’re the Fire Lady.” 

Even in the faint lighting, he could see the beautiful blush in her cheeks. “I’m still not used to being called that.” 

There was a crown waiting for her in his desk drawer. It would be fastened to her hair for the first time in the morning. He kissed her again against the sealed door of his chambers, sinking his hands into the soft waves of her hair. She smiled against his lips. “Are you sure you want Rei to sleep in here tonight?” She took one of his hands in hers and guided it towards the curve of her chest.

His lips caressed the raging pulse in her neck. “Yes. I want him to stay here until we can guarantee his safety in other parts of the palace.” 

The desire for him withered from his wife’s eyes. All that was left was worry. She left the room in a hurry towards the nursery, towards their son, who was sleeping soundly on his stomach in a cradle that had once belonged to his father. 

“He’s gotten so big,” Zuko marveled. 

“I know. He has more words now too.”

Zuko reached into the cradle, gently hoisting him up by the underneath of Rei’s arms. The boy barely stirred as Zuko rested him against his chest, kissing the top of his head. “His hair’s gotten longer too,” he whispered. 

“He missed you,” Katara told him fondly. “Oh, and my Gran Gran says he’s the most beautiful baby in the world.”

He laughed. “I missed him. And you. So much.” 

“Come on. Let’s go to sleep, Zuko.”

Katara cuddled against his arm as they went to sleep in his bed, resting her head on the same pillow as him. Rei never once moved from his position on Zuko’s chest. When the little boy woke in the morning to his father’s face, he called out to him with joy. 


	2. Counterpart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zuko works some things out.

Thousands and thousands of names littered the ledgers in front of him. His uncle told him he’d never be able to go through them all by himself. Katara offered to help him, but it had to be completed on his own. _He_ had to pour over the documents himself and scour each and every name. These documents ranged from lists of the dead, lists of prisoners of war, lists of visitors checked in and out of the prisons, officers dishonorably discharged from the military; the lists went on and on. It was every list he could get his hands on. 

And his mother’s name wasn’t on a single one. 

“Come to bed,” Katara’s voice said to him from the doorway of his solar. He hadn’t even heard her come in. That was dangerous. 

“I’ll be there soon.”

“Zuko, you’re killing yourself.”

It was an argument they’d had a million times, and the outcome never changed. “I have to know what happened to her.”

Usually Katara crossed her arms and went to bed. Sometimes she offered to help again, and he refused; those nights she sent a water whip his way and stormed out. Tonight she leaned in the doorway and cried. 

“Katara, I thought you’d understand,” he said, as softly as he could despite the frustration brewing within. How could there be no record of his mother at all?

“Your uncle told me you were like this while you were hunting Aang. He said you were completely obsessed with an idea, and nothing could ground you. But then he said that things were different now because _I_ could ground you—”

“Katara—”

“And you won’t let me,” she cried. “You won’t listen to anyone. You’ve shut us out.” 

Her tears were a shock to him. Normally she got angry, and he got angry back. He hadn’t known that the anger she showed him was a mask for something deeper.

“I want to help you, Zuko, and you won’t let me.”

“I don’t want you to take on that burden.”

“You don’t understand that it’s not a burden to me!” she exclaimed, drawing attention from a pair of servants walking by. A glare from Zuko sent them running. Katara rolled her eyes at the distraction but quickly stepped inside the solar and shut the door behind her. 

“I want you to find out what happened,” she elaborated. “I’ll do anything to help you, but I’m so sick of watching you destroy yourself. You miss important briefings! You sleep alone in here, and that’s only because you’re so exhausted, you pass out where you stand! Uncle told me you don’t even meditate anymore. You have no concept of the time. You don’t help me put Rei to sleep, you don’t take your meals with us. This can’t go on!”

“It’ll only have to be a little longer,” he insisted, the way he always told himself. “When I find her, everything can go back to normal.”

“What if…” she trailed off. 

“What? I don’t find her?” he demanded. 

Her sad eyes met his. “I’m not saying you won’t, but you have to have considered the possibility.”

“I won’t stop trying.”

“So you’ll put everything else on hold? Is that what you think she’d want you to do? Is that what you’d want _Rei_ to do?” 

He hesitated, and looked anywhere in the room to avoid looking at her. He didn’t want to be reasonable right now. He wanted answers. His eyes circled back to the papers on his desk, and he began scanning the names again out of habit. _Ursa, Ursa, Ursa_...her name wasn’t there. But another one was. 

“Hey, what did Suni say her husband’s name was?”

“What?” Katara asked furiously.

He picked the paper up from his desk and brought it to her. His finger traced the name. _Rili Fuomoh_.

Katara gasped. “That’s Suni’s husband!”

“It is, isn’t it?”

“Which list is that?”

“Prisoners of war.”

“That means he went home! He went home to Suni and the girls!” Katara jumped into his arms out of pure excitement. He caught her, and he held her close. His smile was as genuine and bright as hers. 

_Finally_ , he thought, _some good news_. 

She wrapped her arms tighter around him. “Don’t put me down yet,” she whispered. 

Everything she said had been true. He’d shut her out. He’d put everything aside to focus solely on this one mission of his, one he didn’t know for sure he’d ever be able to complete. 

He wasn’t a banished teenager anymore. He couldn’t expel all his energy on one task. He had responsibilities. He had a son to care for, a nation to rule, and a wife as his partner for both of those roles—a wife he had neglected recently. He promised himself then to never isolate himself from her. She had promised to be his partner in all things; excluding her was a failure on his part to live up to their vows. It probably reminded her of the actions he took leading up to their separation. He couldn’t put her through that again. He couldn’t put himself through that; he had been so miserable without her by his side. He didn’t want to walk through life without his counterpart, no matter how much it would always be his natural instinct to shield her. 

He hugged her tighter. “I won’t.”


	3. Fuse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Iroh and Rei spend the morning together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Iroh and Rei together was definitely one of the most requested themes. Hope y'all enjoy!

Zuko’s son, Rei, was a gentle boy. He reminded Iroh so much of Zuko. He liked to hold his mother’s hand while they walked through the gardens, and he asked to sit in on his father’s duties as Fire Lord with him, though sitting at his father’s desk grew boring quickly. He thought tea tasted bitter and tried to sneak treats while his mother wasn’t looking at the table, though his father always caught him.

Sometimes in the moment, Iroh would be present with Rei and suddenly stumble into a memory of spending the same moment with Zuko at that age. It was funny how the mind worked. 

In one particular moment, Iroh and Rei were meditating together. Zuko often meditated with Rei at sunrise, but his presence was required outside Caldera City to handle a small rebellion (Iroh didn’t know all the details yet, but Zuko assured him everything was under control). Usually Katara went with him, but she was stuck in bed on account of her severe morning sickness. 

“Now, young Rei, you remember what your father told you, don’t you? Focus on your breathing deep in your belly and imagine that breath fanning into something deeper. Close your eyes, that’s it. Now breathe deeper and notice how—“

“Uncle Iroh,” the three-year-old interrupted. It was too bad; Iroh thought he was leading their meditation very well. “Can I call you Grandpa?”

Iroh laughed at the question. Children were truly unpredictable. “You’ve called me Uncle for three years. Why the sudden desire to change it?”

“Master Ojazu told me that everyone has two grandmothers and two grandfathers. I know about my two grandmothers, but I only have one grandfather. Grandpa Hakoda.”

Ah, Iroh understood now. Zuko tried hard to keep details of Ozai and Azula from Rei. It was easy to accomplish this inside the palace. Within these walls, no one dared speak Ozai’s name. His tapestries had been torn down, and his statues had been destroyed. All that remained of the man was a memory, even if he still lived deep beneath the ground in his prison cell. “You have two, just as Master Ojazu says.”

“Really?”

“Yes, my brother Ozai.”

“Grandpa Ozai!” Rei exclaimed fondly. A smile bloomed across his face as his problem seemingly corrected itself. It seemed so simple to Rei, but in reality things were much more complicated. 

“I wouldn’t call him Grandpa, my nephew, especially not around your mother and father. My brother was not a nice man.”

The smile fell. It tore Iroh’s heart in two to crush a child’s joy, but truth was necessary. “Then, can I call you Grandpa?” he asked shakily. 

Iroh tapped the boy’s nose. “But I love it so much when you call me Uncle. Do you know why?” Rei shook his head. “It’s what your father always called me. I was his only uncle, so he never had to specify which one he was referring to. So from the time he learned the word, until now, he’s called me Uncle. And when  _ you _ call me Uncle, it reminds me of how he was when he was your age. You’ll learn, Rei, that the old like to be reminded of when they were young. When you call me Uncle, sometimes I expect to turn around and see little Prince Zuko.” Iroh tickled the boy and smiled at his joyous laughter. “And then I see Prince Rei, and I am even happier.”

Rei hugged him. The boy was much more affectionate than Zuko was at that age, but it was because Zuko and Katara were so affectionate with him. 

“Shall we meditate now, or will there be any other questions?”

“No, I’m all done.”

“Oh, good. I’m glad we settled that. Now close your eyes, and take a deep breath, deep into your belly. Out...in. Out...in. Focus on that breath, imagine that breath fusing into a little flame, and breathe in to fan the flame. Can you bring your flame to life? Breathe in, and imagine holding your flame in the palm of your hand.”

“Uncle!” Rei exclaimed.

Iroh’s eyes startled open from the urgency in his nephew’s voice. “What? What is it?”

Rei smiled. “Look what I did!” The boy held his hand out, and sure enough he had produced a tiny flame in the palm of his hand. “The breath fused into a flame!”

Iroh laughed, clapping his hands together. He always knew Rei would be a firebender. It was why he encouraged Zuko to include the young boy in his meditations.

“It sure did. Well done, Prince Rei!”

“I’m a firebender!”

“You are,” Iroh affirmed. Zuko would be so proud when he returned. “Just like your father.”


	4. Celestial

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sokka gives Rei some advice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't slip it into the chapter, but Rei is about 6 years old here. His sister, Kya, is 2.

Prince Rei was accustomed to his summer routine. He spent the first week on Ember Island with his whole family. It was the only time he ever saw his father without the Fire Lord’s crown in his hair. He’d see his parents walk along the beach sometimes, and he’d go with them. His dad held one of his hands while his mom held the other. Sometimes, they’d look at each other and smile, then send him up into the air. They did the same thing with his younger sister once she was old enough to walk. Sometimes his mom sat in the sand and built sandcastles with him. Sometimes his dad swam with them, challenging his mom to races. Mom always won. 

It was Rei’s favorite week of the whole year. He liked it better than the week of his birthday, or any of the festivals in the Fire Nation. 

Once that week passed, he would travel to the South Pole with his mother and sister. They remained there for the rest of the summer. His father could never take a vacation for longer than that first week on Ember Island. Rei was always so excited during the first days in the South Pole. He loved to see Uncle Sokka and Grandpa Hakoda, but by the end of the first couple weeks, he usually yearned to return home. His father’s weekly letters weren’t enough to keep him from falling into homesickness. 

He longed for his routine as the crown prince of the Fire Nation. 

One morning, before the sun had even risen, Uncle Sokka found him practicing his firebending forms near the edge of the water. 

“What are you doing all the way out here?” Uncle Sokka called.

Rei huffed, annoyed by the distraction. He’d almost made his longest fire whip yet. “Bending,” he called back. 

“You sound like you didn’t get enough sleep.”

“I didn’t.” 

“Up all night?” 

“Not all night,” he admitted, wiping the sweat from his temples. The back of his neck felt slick with it beneath his dark ponytail.

“I take it your mom doesn’t know you’re out here.”

“No, she’s still sleeping.” 

“She’ll be worried when she wakes up and you’re not there,” Uncle Sokka reminded him. 

“I’ll go back soon. She sleeps in when her handmaidens aren’t here to wake her.” 

His uncle laughed warmly. “ _Handmaidens_. That’s right. Katara’s a bigshot. Fancy Fire Lady.” 

“You’re gonna be the next chief,” Rei reminded him. His parents weren’t the only one in the family toting high status. 

“Yes, but it _is_ a little different, Prince Rei.”

“You don’t have to call me that.” 

“No, but I understand your Uncle Iroh always called your dad Prince Zuko. Always. Even when no one else did.”

“Uncle Iroh calls me Prince Rei too.”

“I know he does.” 

Rei knew Uncle Iroh better than he knew Uncle Sokka, even though Iroh was actually his great-uncle. Iroh had the luxury of visiting frequently, when Uncle Sokka didn’t. These summers in the South Pole were the only time he had with his mom’s side of the family. Sometimes his mom would go back to the South during the year all by herself. Those times he missed her. 

He suddenly felt bad for taking his time here for granted. Sokka was his _only_ uncle. His mom didn’t have any other siblings, and his dad’s only sibling was his Aunt Azula, who Rei wasn’t even allowed to meet.

“So did I interrupt your bending, or were you finished?” 

Rei sat in the snow and laid back to relax for a minute. “No, I’m finished.”

“Mind if I sit with you?”

“No.” 

Uncle Sokka must have come out here to hunt. He had a spear in his hand which he set down beside him as he knelt down to the snowy ground. “I don’t know much about firebending, but those forms of yours looked good.” 

“They were okay. Not my best.” 

Sokka shook his head. “You already look like your dad. Do you have to _sound_ like him too?”

“What do you mean?”

“They were good, okay?”

“Okay,” Rei agreed, though in his head he still thought they were okay. 

“I can tell you’re starting to get sick of this place.” 

“What? No, I’m not.”

“Rei, _I_ get sick of this place. I know the Fire Prince does too.” 

“I just miss home a little. I miss my dad.”

“Yeah, I get it. I wish your dad was able to come with you on these trips too.”

“You do?”

“Oh, yeah. Zuko and I are good friends.”

“Really?” Rei asked. This was news to him.

“Hard not to be. We won a war together, and he’s married to my sister, but I guess you don’t get to see us together very often, do you?” 

Rei shook his head. The realization made him sad. “Dad always wants to come to the South Pole with us.” 

“I know he does. Your mom knows too. So does Grandpa Hakoda, and Gran-Gran, and Grandpakku. But what’s important is for you and Kya to know. He’s not abandoning you during the summer. He just can’t get away, but he wants to make sure you’re able to see your mom’s side of the family.”

“He finds the time to go to Ember Island,” Rei muttered. 

“Ember Island is much closer to the palace than the South Pole, and you know it,” Sokka reminded him. “Look, I get it. I felt lost when my dad left. Absolutely lost, thinking every day he was going to come back home. But you know what Gran-Gran told me?”

“What?”

“When you feel lost from your loved ones, look up to the heavens--to the sun and the moon, and all the stars between them--and know that distance doesn’t matter. Our loved ones are always with us. We miss them, but they’re there. Just like your dad. He’s probably bored out of his mind stuck in the palace without you. But, sometimes I look at you, and I swear he’s here.” 

Everyone always said he was so much like his father, in looks and personality; Rei didn’t see it yet. He looked up to the rising sun and realized his father was probably meditating right now, the way they did together. It made Rei smile. 

“That’s better. I don’t want my only nephew moping around for the rest of the summer. Now what do you want to do today?”

Rei shrugged. “No clue.”

His uncle reached towards him and patted his shoulder. 

“Well, how about we go wake your mom up?”

“You probably shouldn’t do that. She’ll be mad.”

“ _Exactly_.” 


	5. Hesitancy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Katara experiences some doubts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, everyone! I'm so sorry this is coming to you a little late. I still hope you enjoy it! This takes place at the same time as Day 3: Fuse.

**Th** e timing couldn’t be more inconvenient. 

Just when they thought they could have a second child, just when Zuko finally felt comfortable in his Fire Lord regalia and Katara felt like her hard work was paying off, the uprisings started. 

“You can’t go by yourself,” she insisted. “I’m going with you.” 

“What, like this?” he replied, lashing out at her because his nation was slipping through his fingers. And there she was, his partner in all this, hunched over a chamber pot, so overtaken with nausea she could barely stand. They must be having a girl, she decided. This pregnancy was so different from the last. She’d never felt so weak in her life. 

“Send for Aang at least. Please don’t go by yourself.”

_Please don’t go. It won’t last. Please stay here._

“I’ll see what the situation requires when I arrive.” 

She cried when he left. There existed a whole faction of people who wanted to reinstall Ozai to the throne, believing that he’d created a Golden Age. They didn’t like Zuko’s taxes, or Zuko’s reparations, or his choice for Fire Lady. Even worse, they were rich nobles with power, and she didn’t know how many of them there were. 

She thought the hesitancy would dissipate as she grew older, but she was still as unsure as she had been when she was a teenage fugitive in Ba Sing Se. She was sure of some things - she was sure of the people she loved, and she was sure she would do anything to protect them, but she was starting to wonder how long she would have to worry about all of them. It was starting to wear on her. She was starting to regret expanding their family. 

She had wanted to be sure this time around. When they were expecting Rei, the two of them had so many doubts. They doubted they could provide a good life for their child. They feared for the future. They doubted they would make good parents. There was so much uncertainty in her relationship with Zuko. They wondered if their child would ever know who they really were. 

Now she wished they could go in hiding again. She wished they weren’t the rulers of the Fire Nation. She wished the world didn’t know her son’s name. She wished she wasn’t pregnant, and then she regretted that wish immediately because it wasn’t true. She _wanted_ another child. Their first baby was three years old now, almost four. He was his own little person already, nurtured by everyone who loved him, especially her and Zuko. 

Zuko was a wonderful father. He always had been. She wanted to do it all again with him. But her anxiety consumed her now that these uprisings were starting across the smaller islands. What if they’d made the wrong decision? 

Weeks passed. Zuko returned to her and Rei without a single scratch on his armor. “The leaders of the uprising were successfully deposed,” he told her, a subtle smile upturning his lips.

She leaped into his arms. 

“How are you?” he asked. A hand came down to rest on her belly. “And the little one?”

“Much better,” she told him. “Oh, and Rei has news for you.”

“Rei does?” he asked curiously. 

She kissed his cheek, so happy that he had come home. She wondered if this was how he felt every time she returned from the South Pole. It was much different to be the one left behind. She took Zuko’s hand and led him through the corridors of the palace she’d grown so familiar with, to the library where Rei had his lessons with Master Ojazu. 

The Master bowed as soon as he saw them. 

“Master Ojazu, might we borrow Prince Rei for a minute?” Katara asked. “We’ll return him to his studies immediately.”

“Of course, Fire Lady Katara.” 

Rei bounced up from his chair and embraced his father. Zuko lifted him into the air and tickled the underside of his chin. 

“Wait, Zuko. He has something to show you. Go ahead, Rei.”

Katara watched proudly as Rei displayed his newly discovered firebending. “Look, Dad!”

“Look at you!” Zuko exclaimed joyfully. They would have loved him no matter what; if he bent fire, or, water, or nothing at all. But now they knew. They were so proud of him and his ability, but they couldn’t love him any more than they already did. 

“Now we can practice together,” Rei said. 

Zuko hoisted him onto his shoulders. “I can’t wait. That was amazing what you just did, Rei.” 

“Really?”

“Yes. I’m so proud of you.” 

When Katara had told Zuko she was pregnant with Rei, she said she wanted what her mother had felt with her. She wanted to love someone with her entire being, unconditionally, the way a mother did. She did. She loved Rei that much. Now she was ready to do it all again. She was ready to meet their second child. Even when the outside world was tumultuous, she could always be sure that she loved her family. She couldn’t let her fears consume her, not when there were so many reasons to be joyful.


	6. Affirm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Katara attempts to change Zuko's mind. She enlists Rei's help.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please enjoy this pure family fluff! Thank you all for reading!

“Oh, Zuko!”

“No.”

“Come on. It’ll be fun.”

“Last time we went, it wasn’t,” he reminded her. 

Kya reached for Zuko from her mother’s hip. “Go on. Convince him,” Katara said conspiratorially as she passed their infant daughter to him. 

Zuko kissed Kya’s cheek. “You can’t. No one can convince me. We’re not going to see that play.” 

“It’s different now,” Katara insisted. “The ending’s a lot happier.”

Zuko sighed. “There are plenty of other things to do on Ember Island than drag our kids to a play about ourselves.” 

The two of them stood out on the steps of their beach house, watching Rei run himself tired around the courtyard. “Hey, Rei!” Katara called. “Do you want to see a play?”

“A what?” he yelled, catching his breath.

“A play!”

“Say no, Rei! It’s very boring. The adults don’t even have fun.”

“Don’t listen to Daddy! It’s a great play! And we get to sit in special seats.”

“Rei, you don’t care about special seats, right? Not when Daddy can race you to the beach.”

“Oooh, let’s race!”

Katara rolled her eyes. She pulled at Zuko’s sleeve and when his eyes met hers, he smiled to see the mirthful anger. “Not so fast. It’s almost dinner time. No racing to the beach.”

“You’re just mad you can’t defect our son to your side.” 

Her eyes lit up then, and Zuko wondered just what his wife had up her sleeve. “Oh, you think you won?” 

“I think it’s pretty obvious that a four-year-old would rather play with his dad than sit through a stifling play.”

With her hand still stuck to his sleeve, she added, “Hey, Rei, if you say yes to the play, you can have all the fire flakes you want.” 

Zuko groaned. 

“All the fire flakes I want?” the young boy repeated excitedly, racing up the steps to meet them. 

“Yep!”

“That’s cheating,” Zuko informed her.

“How?”

“You can’t just use his love of fire flakes to win his vote.”

“You’re just mad you didn’t think of it first. We’re going to see the play tonight.”

“What if it’s sold out?” asked Zuko, just to be difficult. 

“Then we go tomorrow.”

“Do I get the fire flakes if we go tomorrow?”

“Yes, my love. But you have to eat all of your dinner before we go.”

“I do?”

Zuko patted Rei’s head consolingly. “See how she gets you? She adds all these conditions. You should have stuck with me.” 

“Stop that. This play’s going to be fun.” 

“Yeah, sure,” Zuko affirmed sarcastically. Katara glared at him, and he laughed. He reached for her hand and threaded their fingers together. “Okay, no more giving you a hard time about it, I promise.” 

“On your honor?”

“Yes, on my honor.” 

The play was only slightly better than the last time they saw it, but the memory of the four of them in their royal box --Kya giggling at the actors, Rei chomping on his fire flakes, Katara resting her head on his shoulder--was significantly fonder. 


End file.
